Job 20:23 - Meaning and Application

Zophar has already described the troubles that usually follow the cruel actions of oppressors. Now he turns to their final ruin.

Their ruin begins with God’s anger and judgment, Job 20:23. The wicked man has used his hand against others, Job 20:22, so every hand may turn against him. Even so, he might still hope to hold his own in a fight with men. But he cannot stand when God deals with him (Ezekiel 22:14). He cannot endure when God pours out the fury of his wrath on him.

Every phrase here adds to the terror. It is not only God’s justice that rises against him, but God’s wrath, his deep anger at the wrong done against himself. It is the fury of his wrath, full and intense. It is cast upon him with force and poured out in great measure. It comes down on his head like the fire and burning sulfur that fell on Sodom, which the psalmist also mentions (Psalm 11:6). On the wicked, God rains fire and sulfur. There is no shelter from that storm except in Christ, who is the only safe cover from the storm and the wind (Isaiah 32:2).

This wrath comes on him just as he is about to fill himself up with his gains, when he is ready to enjoy what he has taken. He is thinking only of comfort and plenty. Then, while he is eating, this storm catches him by surprise, when he feels safe and sees no danger ahead. That is how the old world and Sodom were destroyed, in the middle of their ease and pleasure, as Christ said (Luke 17:26 and following). Zophar may also have been thinking of Job’s children, who were eating and drinking when disaster struck them.

Their ruin is also unavoidable, with no way to escape it, Job 20:24. He flees from the iron weapon. That flight itself shows guilt. He will not humble himself under God’s judgment or try to make peace with him. He only wants to escape the punishment that is chasing him, but he cannot. If he escapes the sword, the bow of steel will pierce him.

God has weapons of every kind. He has sharpened his sword and bent his bow (Psalm 7:12-13). He can reach his enemies close up or from far away. He has a sword for those who try to fight him with force, and a bow for those who try to dodge him by cleverness. See also Isaiah 24:17-18 and Jeremiah 48:43-44. Whoever is marked for ruin may escape one judgment, but another will be waiting.

The ruin is also total and dreadful. When the dart that pierced him is pulled out of his body, what fear fills him then! When the glittering sword, the lightning, the flaming sword, the sword bathed in heaven (Isaiah 34:5), comes out of his gall, his pain is terrible. The dying struggles are violent, and death lays hold of the wicked man in a frightening way.

Sometimes the ruin comes on him without his noticing it, Job 20:26. The darkness around him is hidden darkness. It is complete darkness, with not a trace of light, and it is hidden in his secret place, the very place where he hoped to be safe. Even when he goes into his own heart and conscience, he finds himself in darkness and does not know what to do.

The fire that consumes him is a fire not blown, a fire that burns without noise. The result can be seen, but the cause cannot. The gourd has withered, but the worm at the root is out of sight. He is being wasted by a quiet fire, slowly but surely. When fuel is very dry, a fire does not need to be blown, and that is his condition. He is ripe for ruin. The proud and those who do evil will be like stubble (Malachi 4:1). Some understand this as an unquenchable fire, and that is certainly true of hell.

The ruin reaches his family too. It goes badly for whoever is left in his tent, because the curse reaches them as well, and they may be cut off by the same painful disease. Wrath seems to pass down through the family line and destroy both heirs and property, Job 20:28. His descendants will be rooted out. The increase of his house will disappear, either by early death or by being forced from their land. Large and growing families, if they are wicked, are soon reduced, scattered, and destroyed by God’s judgments.

His wealth will also collapse. His goods will flow away from his family as quickly as they came in when the day of God’s wrath arrives. While he was gathering wealth by fraud and oppression, he was really storing up wrath for himself.

This ruin will clearly show itself to be just and fair, because it comes from his own wickedness, Job 20:27. The heavens will reveal his sin. That means the God of heaven, who sees every hidden evil, will somehow make the whole world know what kind of man he has been, so all will admit that God was right to judge him. The earth will also rise up against him, both to expose his wickedness and to punish it. The earth will reveal her blood, Isaiah 26:21. It will no longer keep such a man hidden or protected.

If heaven reveals his guilt, it will not receive him. If earth rises against him, it will not help him. Where then can he go except to hell? If the God of heaven and earth is his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show him favor. All the powers of both will be set against him.

Zophar ends like a skilled speaker, Job 20:29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God. It is his allotted share, his assigned end. He will receive it at last, as surely as a child receives his inheritance, and he will keep it forever. It is what he must live with. This is the heritage that God has decreed for him. It is the settled rule of God’s judgment, and the warning has been given openly. “Wicked man, you will surely die” (Ezekiel 33:8).

Even though sinners do not always suffer these exact outward judgments, as Zophar wrongly assumed, God’s wrath still rests on them. They are made miserable by spiritual judgments, which are far worse. Their consciences may either torment them, so they live in constant fear, or be hardened and silenced, so they are given over to a corrupted mind and are headed for eternal ruin. No teaching was ever explained better and applied worse than this by Zophar, who meant to use it to prove that Job was a hypocrite. Let us receive the truth in what he said, and use it better, as a warning to ourselves to fear God and avoid sin.